Kirkpatrick suffers a leg injury, could be out to start season

The Bengals had two first-round picks in 2012, thanks to the trade that sent a quarterback who vowed never to play again for the Bengals to Oakland. One of those first-round picks, however, is already injured.

Though not as severe as the torn ACL that 17 years ago wiped out No. 1 overall pick Ki-Jana Carter’s rookie season before it even began, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick is “telling associates” that he suffered a leg injury while preparing for training camp, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com.

It was reported by NFL.com that the former Alabama cornerback has suffered a fractured bone in his knee, and is expected to miss at least six weeks.

The news means that he will likely miss all of the pre-season and could miss at least the first week or two of the regular season. At that point, depending on his conditioning and learning curve, it could be the second half of the season or later before Kirkpatrick is able to be a significant contributor.

Additionally, if Kirkpatrick is not healthy enough to be removed from the PUP list by the start of the season, he will be forced to miss the first 6 weeks. This is a huge blow to a team that still doesn’t know the status of Leon Hall and his Achilles injury. Read more here…